Absorbent bandage.



PATENTBD JAN. 16, 1906.

W. R. GREEN.

ABSORBENT BANDAGE.

APPLIOATIoN FILED JUNE 1o, 1904.

Umm. srafrns PATENT OFFICE.

WILLARD R. GREEN, OF MUSCATINE, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO vTHE AMERICAN ABSORBENT FIBER COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

ABSORBENT BANDAGE.

Specification of Letters Patent..

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

To if/ZZ whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLARD R. GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Muscatine, in the county of Muscatine and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Absorbent Bandages, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to that class of articles commonly known as absorbent bandages, and has for its object to provide an article of this class of improved construction whereby advantages of efficiency and mode of operation may be obtained in an article of low cost to manufacture.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bandage made in accordance with my present improvements. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, shown somewhat enlarged, inline 2 2, Fig. 1. is a sectional view in line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the members, in a preferred form thereof, of the combination as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is a crosssectional view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating the modification in certain features of the bandage.

Similar characters of reference indicate like arts in all the figures.

A eading feature of my present improvements relates to the employment in the combination of which the bandage is composed of a member which serves the purpose of a side brace and which at the same time is of such a character as to have iieXibility, while provid ing a chamber-space interiorly of the bandage for the purpose of assisting in the distribution of fluid and semi-fluid substances through the entire body of the absorbent member. Said side brace and chamber space member is designated in a general may by 5, and in a preferred form thereof herein illustrated it is represented as being formed of a wire of suitable resilient character bent to a form in the nature of a spiral or helical coil. When so constructed, this device is analogous in a general way to a spiral spring, and in some cases an ordinary round spiral spring or a plurality of them located side by side may be employed in lieu of the improved and preferred form of chambered side-bracing member, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. This modification in the specific construction of the bandage is illustrated in the sectional view, Fig.

5, as at 5, and has in view of this construction two chambers 6, such as before mentioned in connection with the brace 5 of Figs. 2 and 3.

The chamber-space member 5 operates as a side-bracing member for preventing collapse of the bandage beyond a limited amount, but is only slightly resistant to the flexibility of the bandage as a whole. Said side brace being constructed with a chamber-space, as 6, extending along in the same, is thus adapted for receiving a quantity of filling material, as 7, which I prefer to make of some loose absorbent material, and for this purpose a woody fiber-like material-such, for instance as eXcelsior-of suitable lineness and teX- ture may be employed with advantage. Another material well adapted for use within said chamber-space is the loosely-twisted yarns or cord commonly employed for mops ofthe cheaper grade. In practice the chamber-space 6 is preferably only partially filled with said material 7. The chambered member thus operates as a protective device for preventing the compacting of the absorbent material contained therein, with the result that this material retains its capacity for instantly absorbing a relativelylarge amount of fluid, which may thereafter be gradually transmitted into the absorbent layers at the sides and below said member.

As a means for providing a suitable pervious receiving surface I prefer to employ as a surfacecovering a plurality of fabrics 8 and 9 and to make these of relativelyopen mesh. In the drawings I have illustrated the use of two such sheets superimposed one upon the other, but in some cases a larger number maybe employed, especially if the fabric is of a larger mesh. For holding these surface-sheets in place the edges 10 and 11 are represented being carried down around the sides of the bandage, preferably within the cover-sheet 12.

4For convenience this sheet may be made of any suitable fabric, preferably of light weight,

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Y For this purpose the middle portion of the absorptive material 18, below the chambered side-bracinol member 5, is preferably formed of a mass of woody strands of fiber-like character mingled together and partially compacted for the purpose of reducing a considerable proportion of the meshes or spaces of the same to such a small size as will cause said mass to normally hold therein a relatively large amount of fluid, this being assisted by the capillary action, which, as I apprehend, is one of the important Jfeatures of this particular kind of absorptive material when prepared in the manner set forth. In practice this material may be treated with antiseptic substances, as required, as also may the other portions of the absorbent members of the article.

In connection with the side-bracing member, and more especially when this is of the chambered character, I provide between said member and the receiving-surface fabrics absorptive layers 19 and 20, extending over the edges of said side-bracing member, to form an absorptive layer and also a cushion device. As indicated at 21 in Fig. 2, this layer will (as shown by the depth of shading) naturally become firmer along the eXtreme edges of said member 5, while the inwardly-turned edges 22 and 23 will be left in a looser condition. In a case where, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the upper surface of the chambered member is depressed or concave, it will be evident that the stresses naturally applied to the surface-sheets 8 and 9 will normally hold these in a flat position, thus leaving where said cushion layers approach each other a central open space 24, which in practice should not be entirely filled by the projecting looselyformed edges of said cushion member or layer. This open space 24 constitutes, in effect, a continuation of the main chamber-space 6 within the side-bracing member, and also gives freer access for the thick and coagulative materials to pass from the meshes of the surface-sheet downward into said chamber. At the same time the arrangement here described gives a more complete and thorough ventilation.l In practice I prefer to make the absorptive layers 19 and 20, which, as indicated, serve as cushion members, of narrow strips of vegetable fiber-such, for instance, as cotton in the form of cotton-batting. Various other fibrous substances suitably prepared may, however, be employed in lieu of cotton fiber.

The chamber-forming cage being located interiorly of the absorbent mass of fiberstock operates as a means for maintaining the chamber-space by the side-bracing action of the transversely-disposed portions of the same.

I do not claim, broadly, herein the formation of achamber-space in a body of absorbent material and the location therein of means or a metallic cage for maintaining such chamberspace, as this constitutes, in part, the subjectmatter of my copending application, Serial No. 211,931, filed June 10, 1904.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- I 1. In a bandage, the combination with a y supporting member, of a body of absorbent material therein, a chamber-space-forming cage in the said absorbent material and a body of absorbent material loosely arranged within said cage.

2. In a bandage, thel combination with a supporting member, of a body of absorbent material therein, and a chamber-space-forming member comprising a coil or helicallyformed structure.

3. Ina bandage, the combination with a supporting member, of a body of absorbent material therein, and a chamber-space-forming member comprising a coil or helicallyformed structure, and an absorbent body of material disposed within said structure.

4. In a bandage the combination with a supporting member, of a body of absorbent material therein, and a chamber-space-forming member comprising a coil or helicallyformed structure having a relatively flat or concaved upper surface.

f5. In a bandage the combination with a supporting member, of a body of absorbent material therein, and a chamber-space-forming member comprising a plurality of parallelly-located, longitudinally-disposed coil or helically-formed structures.

Signed at Nos. 9 to 15 Murray street, New York, N. Y., this 9th day of June, 1904.

. WILLARD R. GREEN.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DOLE, JOHN O. SEIFERT.

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